As part of any business, one must be concerned about how to manage all the data and applications that a part of an organization’s infrastructure especially with BYOD policies on the rise in both large and small companies. Part of that is a company’s storage system, which not only handles storing data but retrieving and processing it. Years ago, this could be accomplished mostly through traditional storage options like hard disk drives (HDD), but these methods have proven to be ineffective as business demands have evolved with changing technologies. As a result, solid-state drives (SSD) or flash storage has grown in popularity, to the point where roughly 4 out of every 5 storage systems manufactured by major tech companies come with some type of flash storage. Solid-state drives will only continue to gain traction in the market, which is why businesses that do not currently use it should begin to consider implementing it within their operations.
Flash array storage offers a number of advantages over hard disk drives. The benefit most cited by proponents of flash is higher and faster performance. Data is being collected at a pace and volume that dwarfs anything that came before. While some businesses might have been content to use HDD to handle the task, most of the time hard disks simply can’t keep up with the performance needs required from companies. Flash storage provides instant access to data while also offering low latency. The result is a storage system capable of performing many more input-output operations per second.
The performance companies get from flash storage is especially important when looking at just how much data is being used in the business world. Big data has become the latest buzzword within many business circles, and it basically involves vast quantities of data being generated and collected throughout the world. Businesses may use big data to improve marketing campaigns, create new products, connect with customers on a more personal level, or even aid them in the hiring process. Companies would find these possibilities severely reduced due to the performance limitations of hard disk drives. But thanks to flash storage, those possibilities have become nearly endless and are creating new opportunities in many different areas including the healthcare, financial, and manufacturing industries.
In addition to providing faster performance, flash array storage is also far more flexible and scalable than hard disk drives. Business demands and projects can vary widely and may even be unpredictable at times. Having a storage system capable of scaling up or down depending on those demands can not only improve overall performance but save organizations money in the long run. Flash storage’s flexible nature also makes it ideally suited to enterprises of all sizes, from the largest corporations to small businesses that are just getting started. It also helps businesses meet new demands as they grow, allowing them to simply add to their existing infrastructure instead of investing in new technology every time they expand.
Another way flash storage provides advantages to businesses is by reducing overall costs. This may come as a surprise to some, since hard disk drives are often touted as being less expensive than flash storage. While it’s true that flash is more expensive than hard disk per gigabyte, the overall cost effectiveness over time actually comes out in flash storage’s favor. As mentioned before, flash storage offers more operations per second than disk. This higher performance not only enables a business to meet the demands of high volumes of data, it allows for more work to get done in less time. This leads to savings for the business, especially when coupled with storage efficiency technologies like deduplication and compression. Companies will see even greater savings because flash storage uses less energy than traditional hard disks. Less cooling is required for solid-state drives, and they also take up less space than HDD. The overall result is a smaller energy bill. Flash storage may require a larger initial investment, but over time, organizations will see the savings.
Flash storage is growing in popularity with no end in sight. Each year, the technology is getting cheaper and cheaper to manufacture and, when used for its performance capabilities, provides real value to a company. Business demands are always fluctuating, so to keep up in a world that seems to be constantly on the move, the best choice is to go with flash array storage.